FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT

MGT420

( INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT )

PREPARED FOR : MADAM SHARIFAH FAZIRAH SYED AHMAD

STUDENT’S NAME : NURIN ILYANA BINTI MOHAMMAD ZAHIR

STUDENT ID : 2019294254

GROUP : BA K3 1E
CASE STUDY
TOPIC : CASE STUDY 1 ( A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ADRIAN JACKSON)

Question 1

Identify the basic managerial function in which Adrian engaged during the day -
that is, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Planning can be defined as setting goals and defining the actions necessary to
achieve those goals. According to the case, Adrian reviews notes from the team
meeting that was held last week and begins developing the agenda of that day. He
also writes out what he remembered from the last meeting. Adrian managed well for
his schedule day by day to make sure he achieved the goals.

Next is organizing. Organizing involves determining the task to be done, who will do
them, and how those tasks will be managed and coordinated. Managers must
organize the members of their work groups and organization so that information,
resources, and tasks flow logically and efficiently through the organization. Adrian
applies organizing when the manager concerned about the recent contract of
company that has signed, and she has some serious reservations about the
company’s ability to complete the work on time. In order to reduce the worries of his
manager, he tries to reassure her that they will meet the deadlines. Adrian also
promises the manager to put together a short report on the progress of the contract.

Another basic managerial function that Adrian engaged is leading. Leading is

motivating and directing the members of the organization so that they contribute
the achievement of the mission and goals of the organization. The leaders must
understand the dynamics of individual and group behaviour. Adrian engages with the
leading when he put his trust in Greg due to his knowledge of computers and and
software skills. He also will defer to his judgement if he does not think the deadline
can be met. Greg admits that he may have overreacted a bit during the meeting and
promises to reassess the proposed scope of work. Adrian and his manager with the
partners discuss commitments made in a newly signed contract and begins
discussions of the merits and feasibility of the project.

Lastly is controlling. Controlling is monitoring performance of the organization,

identifying deviations between planned and actual results, and taking corrective
action when necessary. In order to seek planned results from the subordinates, a
manager needs to exercise effective control over the activities of the subordinates.
In other words, the meaning of controlling function can be defined as ensuring that
activities in an organization are performed as per the plans. Controlling also ensures
that an organization’s resources are being used effectively & efficiently for the
achievement of predetermined goals.Adrian applies the controlling when Adrian
joins a scheduled conference call to discuss a different project with the client’s
management team. Conference call attend by Adrian have been planned. Adrian
manage to control his performance of the organization and make sure the plans and
result will come out great.
Question 2

When did Adrian act in (a) interpersonal roles, (b) informational roles, (c)
decisional roles?

(a) Interpersonal roles

Interpersonal roles involve interactions and relationships with organizational

members and other constituents. There are three interpersonal roles played by the
manager which is figurehead, leader and liaison. Adrian act in this interpersonal roles
when he able to attend the meeting with his group works to discuss about the work.
Adrian coordinate the activities between individuals and work groups within the
organization and develop favourable relationships with outside constituents. He also
discover a voice-mail messaging urging attendance at the manager’s meeting with
one of the company’s partners during lunch. Adrian remembers that there is a
retirement party for his senior vice president, J.J Jordon and he decided to be there
since It is important for him.

(b) Informational roles

Informational roles, the manager’s responsibility for gathering and disseminating

information to the stakeholder’s of the organization. Manager also become the
communication centers of their units and ensuring people with whom they work
have sufficient information to do their jobs effectively. The three roles in this
information roles are monitor, disseminators and spokesperson. In this case, Adrian
act in informational when his manager concerned about the recent contract that has
been signed, and she has some serious reservations about the company’s ability to
complete the work on time. Despite of that, Adrian reassured her that they will meet
the deadlines and he promises the manager to put a short report on the progress of
the contract.

(c) Decisional roles

Decisional roles where the managers process information and reach

conclusions.They commit the their work groups to courses of action and allocate
resources so that the group’s plan can be implemented. Decisional roles include
entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. Adrian act in
decisional roles when he put his trust to Greg’s skill of computer and software and
he will defer to his judgement if he does not think the deadline can be met. Adrian
negotiate with his employees to ensure the work is making progress toward
achieving the goals of the organization.
Question 3

Did Adrian spend time appropriately? If so , in what ways? What

adjustments might have been made to be more effective?

In my perspective of view, Adrian spend his time appropriately. He could manage his
time to attend the meeting and conduct the meeting with his group work to discuss
about the contract of the company. Although, they had problem where they are
worried if they can never met the deadline and had an argument, Adrian able to put
that circumstances in a good way. He met with one of his group work, Greg to
discuss his reservations Adrian is very concerned about his employees. He could
focus on his group work despite of a his load of work. Then, he managed to
cooperate with the partner by having a lunch meeting and discussion while he had
planned to run some errands over the lunch Adrian put emphasis in giving
commitment especially when it comes to collaborate with outside constituents.
Thus, there are a retirement party for his senior vice president, J.J. Jordon. It is
important for Adrian to get to that party because there will be other senior
managers since J.J. Jordon is leaving after 20 years with the company. Lastly, time
with his priority one, Adrian afford to manage his precious time with his family
where he took both children to soccer practice.

Despite all of above, there are adjustments might have been made to be more
effective. First thing first, Adrian must prioritize his time wisely which means when it
comes to the urgent and important task, he needs to do the task right away. As we
know, man is not expert in multitasking rather than a woman. For the unimportant
and not urgent task he needs to set aside to do later. In this situation, the task will
not be mixed up and be a burden to him. Next is take a break between a tasks. When
doing a lot of tasks and works without a break, it is hard to stay focused and
motivated. Adrian needs to has his own time from work to keep him stay healthy
and keep in spirit. As example like going for a short walk, take a nap or have a coffee
at coffee shop.
CASE STUDY 2 (TROPICAL SANDALS)

Question 1

Do you think that the workers in this sandal factory were provided with too
much autonomy in selecting work procedures?

In my opinion, the workers were provided well with the autonomy on selecting work
procedures. Based on bureaucratic management which is focuses on the overall
organizational system. It is based upon firm rules, policies and procedures,
impersonality and employee selection and promotion. There are the characteristics
of bureaucracy. In this case study, I think the procedure is focuses on division of
labor. All duties are divided into simpler, more specialized tasks so that the
organization can use the personnel and resources more efficiently. The workers can
perform their work more efficiently. Production has become so technical and
complex that different workers are put to different tasks according to their capacity
and ability. The workers become specialized in the production of those goods for
which he or she is capable. Different workers perform different parts of production
on the basis of their specialization. The result is that goods come with the co-
operation of many workers. This way of doing the work is called division of Labour,
because different workers are engaged in performing different parts of production.

Furthermore, this procedures also can refer to Fayol’s general principles of

management. The principle that can be applied to the case study is division of work
where by dividing the work into smaller elements and assigning specific elements to
specific workers, the work can be performed more productively. The objectives on
the division of work is to produce more and better work with the same amount of
effort. Fayol’s order principal, stating that everything and everyone should be in their
proper place, is consistent with the orderly objective of time and motion studies. By
applying this method, the workers able to choose which task that they are capable
and comfortable to do it. So that there will be no pressure in working environment.
This will lead to increase the confidence level of their working skills and the
productivity and performance of the workers will also rise up.

Moreover, in these two method, both of it can be refer in the case study which is
there were just too many design variations and color choices. The workers are
divided into different task due too many job to be done such as cutting, stitching,
tooling and polishing. The workers have completed autonomy to decide how they
performed these tasks. The performance of Eddie’s workers is great and improved
by their performing a particular task the way their workers are.
Question 2

Review the principles of scientific management and discuss how they might
be used to improve the task performance of the workers as they make Key
West sandals.

Scientific management focuses on the productivity of the individual worker. The

father of scientific management, Frederick W. Taylor suggested that this was
primarily due to poor management practices and attempted to define “the one best
way” to perform every task through systematic study and other scientific methods.
There are three areas of focus which are task performance, supervision, and
motivation. In an attempt to find the best way of performing task, scientific
management incorporates basic expectations of management, including the
development of work standards training of workers and support workers. The
development of work standards. Standard methods should be developed for
performing each job within the organization. Next is the selection of workers.
Workers with the appropriate abilities should be selected for each job. Training of
workers is where workers should be trained in the standard method. Last is support
of workers. The workers should be supported by having their work planned for them.

Next is motivation. Taylor believed the money was the way to motivate workers
to their fullest capabilities. He advocated a piecework system in which worker’s pay
was tied to their output. Workers who met a standard level of production were paid
at a standard wage rate. Workers whose production exceeded the standard were
paid at a higher rate for all of their production output. Financial incentives would
induce workers to produce more so that they might earn money. The employees will
have high spirit in performing their task due to commission and rewards that have
been given to them. The performance of work will increase as well as the sales of the
company.

Lastly is supervision. In supervision, Taylor felt that a single supervisor could not be
an expert at all task. Most of the supervision were promoted to their positions after
demonstrating high levels of skill in performing a particular function within the
organization. As the result, each first-level supervisor should be responsible only
workers who perform a common function familiar to the supervisor. This became
known as “Functional Foremanship” where the several foreman would be assigned
to each work area, with each having a separate responsibility for such duties as
planning, production scheduling, time-and-motion studies, material handling and so
forth.